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Poster: | Monte B Cowboy | Date: | Nov 16, 2013 11:45am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Confession: 40 years after my first show I realize they played everything except Bob Wills |
Western Swing is fun music! It's my fav Cowboy music. Bob Wills music is tantilizing and exciting. So is the Grateful Dead. They both played cowboy tunes that I liked, and I loved it because they played them so well; they both had extra players to make that big, fat, live sound; both bands emphasized excellent instrument-playing skills and attractive arrangements; both bands combined numerous popular music themes - from the same genres - into their playing styles, playing acoustic and electric instruments. Lots of famous and not-so-famous bands and musicians have performed their material for years and decades.
Buddy Emmons was among the most notable pedal-steel players in the '70s. Who knew he could sing? He's a famous Nashville sideman who played steel on scores (probably hundreds) of albums. Recently I was having flashbacks of Bob Wills cowboy swing tunes playing non-stop inside my head. It wouldn't stop playing. I kept hearing Buddy singing it. Finally, I transferred the two best Cowboy Swing LPs I have, from my cassettes to digital, and put them on my iPod.
Buddy Emmons Sings Bob Wills (FF-017), and Hillbilly Jazz (FF-101), came out on Flying Fish Records in the 1970s. I recall Flying Fish being a spin-off from Rounder Records. I recommend purchasing these albums. My links include snippets for each track.
I already transferred and shared my Hillbilly Jazz tapes with Vassar Clements and Doug Jernigan playing. They didn't play everything from their Hillbilly Jazz album at these two gigs, and, they also played some tunes at these gigs that weren't on the album. Vassar's web site explains this music:
Hillbilly Jazz is an amalgam of the diverse influences that have touched Vassar throughout his career, but it's particularly a composite of his country background and his affinity for the jazz and swing music of his youth. Early in his career, Vassar learned Bluegrass and country styles while working with the like of Bill Monroe, et al., but he's also gained respect as a jazz player. His duet album with the legendary jazz fiddler Stephane Grappelli, "Together At Last" led to his fifth grammy nomination.
Vassar says, "actually I heard more swing than country or bluegrass while I was growing up in Florida. I've always loved that kind of rhythm." Back then he was just a young fiddler, naively interpreting on his instrument the sounds he was hearing his Big Band idols play.
"I used to sit in with combos in Florida, and I even won dance contests during the Big Band era. I was playing jazz along with them, but at this time, I had never heard of Stephane Grappelli, Joe Venutti or any of those great guys. Neither had I ever heard much western swing by Bob Wills. Somehow, I think the swing style, subconsciously has always come through in almost everything I've played."
Vassar has always been open-minded to new ideas and seemingly has been able to find common musical and philosophical bonds with anyone from the diversified roster of Artists who have enlisted his talents. He always seems emotionally caught up in his performances. As his bow glides effortlessly across the strings, his eyes closed, head cocked and a pensive expression on his face, it's as if he is lost in another world.
Hillbilly Jazz is an uninhibited and unabashed expression of Vassar's open-minded approach to music, people and life in general. In the true tradition of all the great musical stylists, Vassar has rejected the straitjacket of labeling. This has resulted in a natural blend of the creative freedom in jazz and the to the point honesty of country. He performs with the depth of someone who has lived a lot and as if his soul has been prepared to play his Hillbilly Jazz.
Instrumentally, Vassar boldly blazes a trail for his band. His fiddle solos soar and glide gently over the rhythm in a manner reminiscent of saxophonist Lester Young's work with the Count Basie Band decades ago. But what perhaps surprises even Vassar's most ardent admirers is his vocals, another definite statement of his affection for cultural roots and family ties.
But just as Bill Monroe is to bluegrass, Elvis Presley to rock and roll, and Bob Wills was to Western Swing, so will and should be Vassar Clements to the field of Hillbilly Jazz.
There may be many imitators, but Vassar Clements will always remain the king of Hillbilly Jazz.
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Poster: | boxcaro | Date: | Feb 17, 2014 11:59am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Confession: 40 years after my first show I realize they played everything except Bob Wills |
I bouht he CD from ART OF LIFE RECORDS, LLC , a while back, blew me away! (Yes, I Meant To Pun!)
I Loved Lenny, although I was told about him after he died. Who could NOT love such a Tangle as Lenny & Buddy?
Also , I took Broadcast Schooling in 1974 iin Arkansas, got the First Class Radiotelephone License, NO Texas Calculater! We Used SLIDE RUELS.
God, my Eyes Hurt, can't type.
CALL SIGN...W5AWG....Johnny_Jazz
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Poster: | Monte B Cowboy | Date: | Feb 17, 2014 5:14pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Confession: 40 years after my first show I realize they played everything except Bob Wills |
I remember when those Texas Instruments calculators first came out. They were expensive. Only a few kids in my class had them. My slide rule worked just as good.